


Pacific Ocean

by Rumiflan



Category: Original Work
Genre: Fish, Ocean, Sharks, Swimming
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-28
Updated: 2017-11-28
Packaged: 2019-02-08 00:34:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12852894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rumiflan/pseuds/Rumiflan
Summary: A boy wakes up under the sea and has fun until things get scary.





	Pacific Ocean

The light-blue clouds moving all over the blue canvas. A bright white pulsating circle. The light-blue rays coming from it.  
  
That was everything Chris Mittelman could see with his half-closed eyes. He was floating underwater without a single movement. His palms were relaxed, facing the bottom of the ocean he was in. Chris wasn't falling down or moving in a strict direction. His body was staying on the same spot in all three dimensions, like he was incased in ice.  
  
He wasn't choking, either. Normally, when a human being is underwater without any equipment, he or she has to block their mouth and nose to prevent bubbles of air escaping their lungs. Chris, however, didn't need any of that. He was slowly breathing through his nose as if what little oxygen the ocean could offer was enough.  
  
The young Mittelman could hear the rumbling of water, as well as the sounds of a school of fish passing him by.  
  
Once it swam away, he assumed a vertical position, bent forward and began butterfly stroking. Several groups of colorful parrotfishes were schooling in various directions. He often moved his vision from one corner of the bottom to another, smiling. Sometimes he would even turn around just to see off some of the groups.  
  
One particular pink parrotfish swam up to Chris and tackled the right pocket of his pants. He chuckled, and pulled a plastic bag with bread crumbs. He released some of them, with the pink fish swallowing every last bit. It then swam away, and the young Mittelman waved his hand.  
  
After that he saw a school of bluestripe snapper. Those creatures were quickly swimming past him. This caused his eyebrows and his lips to form a V and to bare clenched teeth respectively. Chris started stroking faster than the first time, leaving his opponents behind.  
  
A minute later they stopped making any sounds, but he kept smiling. He then turned his vision down, and saw a garden of seaweed shaped like human hands. It was waving at him, as if the sea kingdom welcomed the only human being around with all sorts of pleasure.  
  
There were also corals that looked like cucumbers connected into big blue and pink bushes. Among them were purple sea anemones. They were shining on the sun, and that almost tempted Chris to touch one of them. He didn't do that, of course, as that would hurt.  
  
Upon making a few more strokes since the fish went quiet Chris assumed a vertical position again, turned around, and waved his right arm shouting, "He he heeeey!"  
  
And then his voice faded away. His mouth was still open, but no sound would come out of it anymore. His upper eyelids jumped as the corners of his mouth went down. Seaweed and anemones froze, and all the fish disappeared. A low-pitched chuckle forced him to turn around. His eyes opened wider, revealing the creature in front of him in its entirety.  
  
He saw a white shark covered with scars. Once he did, it began to laugh louder. He was just floating there all while watching this creature's lower jaw drop and bounce back. He was almost completely motionless, and any arm and leg movements were caused by water.  
  
After a while the shark stopped chuckling, and its jaws formed a nasty grin. The next moment the monster dashed towards Chris, but he quickly turned around, and started stroking at breakneck speed. He clenched his teeth as the creature let out a loud roar of excitement.  
  
The young Mittelman was looking straight forward when a coral-covered mountain caught his eye. Escaping the shark's attempt to bite him, he swam up to this rock, and hid behind it. Once there he began to breathe as deep as he could. Chris felt the monster staring at his hideout, and a tear appeared in his eye.  
  
And then he heard the shark letting out a few laughs, each louder than the last. He grabbed his head, and closed his eyes as tight as he could. After one last cackle came the sound of water flowing in his direction, and then everything went quiet.  
  
Upon opening his eyes again Chris swam from behind the wall, and saw the monster gone. He placed his right hand on his chest, let out a loud sigh, and then wiped that small tear off. The corners of his mouth went up, albeit they weren't as close to his eyes as when he was racing with bluestripe snapper.  
  
Chris was floating near his rock when the same parrotfish he fed tackled him in the chest and turned its face up to face his own. At first his upper eyelids jumped, but then they went down as he hugged his new friend. A few seconds later he let that pink creature go, and began to butterfly stroke aimlessly, just observing the bottom of the ocean.  
  
None of the corals or anemones lost their color. Just looking at them was enough to bring back the same smile Chris had while greeting schools of parrotfish. Those creatures got back to swimming around the coral-covered mountains with their scales shining on the sun. Grassy hands at the bottom were waving at him again.  
  
He saw a shoal of yellow fish looking at him. With his lips forming a smirk he started butterfly stroking towards an anemone-covered stone ring. Chris was getting faster with every fifth stroke, and once he came close to the goal, he closed his eyes and swam into this circle.  
  
Once he left the anemones' field of reach, he turned left, swam past the border of the ring, and went through it again, performing a full circle. Upon doing that one last time, Chris turned vertical again, and threw his hands up, closing his eyes in the process. The fish that was watching him dashed towards him, and formed a moving ring around his torso.  
  
He started to laugh, and after a few seconds his vocal cords went quiet again. The fish surrounding him scattered in various directions. The pink parrotfish tackled his spine as he turned around and saw the same scratched shark swimming towards them.  
  
His eyes widened and froze while his lower jaw dropped. He began turning around, but at that moment he saw his friend. It was moving its lips as if trying to say something. Chris closed his eyes and turned his head down for a while, and then he rose it right back. His upper eyelids quickly jumped with his eyebrows forming a tense V.  
  
The pink parrotfish swam behind his back as he outstretched his arms right and left. Once he shook his head the shark swam back a little bit before opening its mouth and dashing towards him. Chris bent his left leg back, and when the monster came close to him, he ran his foot into its nose. The creature let out a loud groan.  
  
While it was flailing in pain Chris grabbed his pink buddy, turned right and began to butterfly stroke with his right arm. A few seconds later the monster stopped convulsing, turned left and went after them. Chris' speed couldn't match that of his pursuer, so he began to move righter and righter, going into a circle.  
  
His eyelids squeezed as he and his friend approached that anemone ring again. Chris swam through its center with his lower lip going over the upper one. Once on the other side he assumed a vertical position, let go of his friend, and a loud rumble filled his ears.  
  
He spun around his vertical axis to discover the shark stuck in the ring. It was getting stung by anemones, letting one groan after another with each bite from those venomous sea animals. It tried to swim backwards, but could only flail its tail right and left.  
  
Upon noticing that Chris froze like he did every time the shark showed itself. This time, however, his eyebrows formed a caret. With clenched teeth and lowered mouth corners he watched as anemones injected the monster with their poison. After a few more groans he gulped, swam up to the predator and pushed its nose.  
  
His strength combined with the creature's flailing was enough to free it. Chris smiled while the creature grumbled, turned around and dashed away from there. His mouth corners went down once the shark left his sight. He looked down at the lower border of the anemone ring, and closed his eyes, grabbing his forehead in the process.  
  
The sound of bubbles popping made him open his eyes, spin around his vertical axis and notice his favorite shoals of parrotfishes. He briefly smiled before corners of his mouth fell back. The creatures grouped into several rows with his pink friend waving its head in their direction. For a few seconds Chris was just looking at them with half-closed eyes, but then his upper eyelids fell, and he shook his head.  
  
Once they went back up he saw his pink parrotfish nodding. The next moment Chris turned around, and swam through the anemone ring. His was stroking as fast as his arms would let him, turning his vision right and left with a caret residing on his forehead. Schools of fish were passing him by, but he kept moving forward, not paying any attention to them.  
  
It took him minutes to find the wounded shark he used to swim away from. It was laying on a stony floor of a coral-covered mountain. The creature was letting out quiet groans when Chris moved closer to its face. With his lips forming a straight line he outstretched his arms towards the shark. It shook its head and groaned louder, with Chris also shaking his head.  
  
The creature then dashed towards him with a loud howl, and he butterfly stroked right into its mouth. He grabbed its basihyal and bent his legs before its jaw had a chance to chop them in half. The creature began to flail, but Chris' grip was preventing him from falling down its throat.  
  
With his right eye closed he noticed a bone stuck near one of the shark's teeth. His right hand released the basihyal in one place and grabbed it in another, as did the left hand shortly afterwards. A few of such movements later Chris approached the bone, took a hold of it, and pulled it out. The next moment his ears were attacked by a loud howl, and then everything went quiet.  
  
The creature's lower jaw went down. Chris released the basihyal completely, and butterfly stroked back into the ocean. Once he did, he turned around. The shark's lower jaw was still down, which caused Chris to giggle. The next second its mouth closed, forming a smile. It froze his face for a second, but then his lips formed a curve slopped downward as well.  
  
He swam up to the shark's nose and patted the spot he kicked when meeting this creature for the second time. It chuckled, as did he, albeit not as loud. He hugged the former monster, and at that moment shoals of fish swam up to both of them. They began to circle around the boy and his new friend as the former patted the latter's nose and began to butterfly stroke towards the sky.  
  
His vision began to get clouded, with the mist getting thicker with every stroke. Chris closed his eyes as his head popped out of water. And then everything turned completely white.  
  
* * *  
  
He opened his eyes to discover a bright lamp hanging on a gray ceiling high above his face. There was a breathing mask attached to his mouth. He looked left and saw a young-looking woman and a blonde boy. Both of them had carets on their foreheads, but the latter had his lower lip over the upper one as an addition.  
  
Near the right side of the bed Chris saw a nurse. Her eyebrows were horizontal, the mouth was forming a straight line. She was looking into his eyes, as were two people on the left.  
  
"Good morning, Chris," said the pretty woman sitting near the blonde boy. "Good to see you alive and well again. When I heard you got into a car accident I lost any ability to sleep at night."  
  
She sighed. "I still can't believe something so horrible would happen to my dear boy. But it's all in the past now. A few more weeks, and you'll be able to walk again. Isn't that wonderful?"  
  
Chris tried to node, but even the slightest movement would sting his neck, causing his right eye to close. Instead, he huffed the agreement out. The corners of his mother's mouth went higher.  
  
The blonde boy stood up. "H-hi, Chris..." said he with his vision turned bottom right. "I, uh... I never thought you'd do something like this for me, especially after all the... I mean, everything me and Mason pulled you through."  
  
He scratched his head. "I knew we were jerks, but I've never felt that as strongly as I do now," went on the boy. "So please, if you can, forgive us. I promise to never lay a damn finger on you. Alright?"  
  
For a few seconds Chris was just looking at his former tormentor, but then his eyelids came together, forming two curves slopped upwards.  
  
_**THE END**_

**Author's Note:**

> So, like, I've been reading Lovecraft, and an old idea surfaced from the depts of my mind. This one is inspired by Nagi no Asukara — a fantastic dramatic anime about sea people. W̶a̶t̶c̶h̶i̶t̶r̶i̶g̶h̶t̶n̶o̶w̶y̶o̶u̶a̶i̶n̶t̶g̶o̶n̶n̶a̶r̶e̶g̶r̶e̶t̶i̶t̶.
> 
> This thing came from under my fingers easier than I thought, all thanks to NnA openings and endings, as well as some marine biology research. Did you know that the thing that replaces a tongue for sharks is called a basihyal? Well, now you know.
> 
> Disclaimer: the following story is highly fictitious. Except for a couple of real names, everything else is entirely the author's idea. Any similarities with any person, living or dead, are highly incidental and unintentional.


End file.
